RBS chief says staff have goals but not ‘frontline incentives’

RBS staff are not financially incentivised to move customers to digital banking, the chief executive of the bank has told MPs.

Ross McEwan said the bank’s employees were set “goals” to serve customers well, which include discussing banking options, but did not have targets to sign people up to online and mobile methods.

He was responding to a letter from Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee stating that press reports had “cast doubt” over his previous denials of the existence of such targets.

RBS has been under pressure over its decision to axe 52 branches across Scotland.

It says more people are using its digital services. However, trade unions claimed the bank was actively pushing customers towards online and mobile banking using staff targets.

During an appearance before the committee earlier this month, Mr McEwan insisted this was not the case.

Subsequent press reports included a screenshot from RBS documents which appeared to show a staff member was required to sign up an average of 5.6 customers a week for the mobile app.

In response to a letter from committee chairman Pete Wishart calling for urgent clarity Mr McEwan said the document was a “standard performance document” used as a staff development tool.

He said: “As a bank, we have removed targets and frontline incentives for our colleagues – this was an important step in changing the culture of our bank and moving away from the mistakes of the past.

“We did acknowledge, however, during our evidence to the committee that our colleagues have goals to serve our customers well and we did not shy away from the fact that we ask them to do a number of things in order to meet this aim.”

This includes “helping customers to meet their needs in a way that suits them best”.